


I Misjudged You, Chancellor

by Koscy



Series: Chaos in the Cathedral [2]
Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign: A Crown of Candy, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Gen, I process grief through retelling the entire battle, Major spoilers for Episode 6, POV Theobald Gumbar (third person), Sad, This is a retelling of Episode 6, dialogue is verbatim from the episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:00:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24188524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koscy/pseuds/Koscy
Summary: The battle from Episode 6, Chaos in the Cathedral, from Theo's POV
Relationships: Lapin Cadbury & Theobald Gumbar
Series: Chaos in the Cathedral [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745749
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	I Misjudged You, Chancellor

In one sentence the Pontifex excommunicates King Amethar, denounces him as an oathbreaker and adulterer, calls the princesses bastards, declares that Candia is now a rebel nation under Duke Jawbreaker, and calls for the Candians present to be arrested. Before Sir Theobald is able to process any of that, Princess Jet runs up to the Pontifex yelling, "I'd rather be a bastard than a fool who believes in a bulb. If it's a fucking war you want it's a fucking war you got." 

That declaration snaps him to attention and he gets in front of the French fry knight who tries to attack the princess, taking the damage for her. He releases arcane magic, looks at Jet, and shouts, "Fuck the Bulb!" He will never abandon his nation or the royal family, even if the entire empire is against them. Jet gets right to the Pontifex and stabs her with one of the water daggers. As the broccoli screams the princess yells, "Bring it on bitches! House Rocks is strong! There is strength in sweetness!" Theo can't stop himself from yelling back, "Long live the King!" Then King Amethar runs up to Jet and throws her up to the balcony, despite her protests. The King then looks directly at Theo and orders him, "Get out of here." 

Before Theo is able to act, archers from the second story rain down crossbow bolts. Liam casts a spell at the knight Theo is in close quarters with and shoots a crossbow bolt at him, with Peppermint Preston trying to get a hit in as well, but bouncing off his shield. Then a voice comes from the shadows, "Witch, is that the spell you cast on me? I will see it undone," and Sir Keradin Deeproot emerges. "I know that the spell still lingers on me. Bulb save me," the carrot says as he attacks Liam with his mace, nearly bringing the young ranger to his knees.

Theo doesn't have time to react to that as he feels a sharp pain in his back and turns around to see Plumbeline with her knife plunged deep inside him. Then the Chancellor comes up to him, puts his hand on his shoulder, and casts what Theo recognizes as the Fly spell. He is touched by this, and he's not fully sure why. He looks at Lapin and says, "Thank you, Chancellor," but the rabbit has already moved on to get between Sir Keradin and Liam while healing the peppermint.

"I misjudged you, Chancellor," Theo says, hoping it conveys all of his feelings at this moment. He had misjudged Lapin. In the past couple of days, Theo's understanding of the Chancellor has completed changed. He always thought of him as a stuffy old know-it-all who was far too secretive for his liking. Now he sees a rabbit, still full of secrets, but who is willing to sacrifice his position as Primogen of the Church by casting an arcane spell to ensure the party's quick retreat and possibly also sacrifice his own life as he stands in front of Sir Keradin to protect Liam.

"Oh shut up," Lapin replies, and Theo can't help but laugh a little.

As Princess Ruby runs up to the dais and shoots her magic arrow at the Pontifex, Theo quickly looks one more time at the king and asks, "Is this your command?"

"Take my daughters and leave this place," the king replies, the resignation and sadness clear in his voice.

Theo nods, grabs Liam and Preston, and flies them up the balcony near Jet, all the while flipping off everyone in the church and shouting, "Long live the Sweetening Path!" because he is absolutely done with all this shit. He then quickly goes back to grab Ruby and bring her up as well. As he lands on the balcony with Ruby, Jet says, "This is why I would have nominated you for emperor." 

"Appreciate it, I'm pretty sure we're off the table," he replies. He can't even think about who the next emperor will be right now. All he can think about is that he will defend these children with his life and make sure they get out of here alive, even if no one else does. 

Shouting erupts from below but he can only think about finding a way to escape. Ruby produces a rope, hands one end to Theo, and casts mage hand to bring the other end to the King. Theo sees that Ruby's mage hand, invisible to the eye, manifest as Lazuli's hand through the reflections of the windows and metal, Lazuli's spirit is reaching out with the rope for her brother. He can't dwell on it too much because there's too much going on, but he sees it.

Theo feels the fly spell leave him and looks to see Lapin drop to the floor as Sir Keradin attacks him three times with that broccoli mace. He wants to compel that carrot to fight him and leave Lapin alone, but he is too far away for Battlepop to do its magic, so he just yells out, "You're gonna attack a rabbit on the ground, you stupid carrot! You mindless fool!" There's no reaction from the carrot, of course. Theo wishes he could do more for Lapin, he wants to save him, but he knows he has to get the children to safety first. That is the first priority even though seeing Lapin unconscious on the floor destroys Theo in a way he never expected. 

The only way for them to get out at this point is through the balcony windows, so Theo, Liam, and Preston focus on smashing the window's stone crossbars as much as they can while the princesses work to get the King up to join them at the balcony. Once King Amethar is up with them he hits the window and is able to damage it greatly. Liam sends Preston down to Lapin and tries to destroy the crossbar but isn't strong enough. Preston squeals as Sir Keradin swings down at him, and the pig falls unconscious on top of the Chancellor's body. Theo really wants to kill that carrot, but he instead puts all his anger into slamming into the window and crashes right through onto the ground below. 

"We're going everyone, we're going!" He yells up to the open window. Jet jumps with Liam and absorbs the damage for him. Amethar stands in front of the window hesitating and Theo knows what he's thinking. He shouts up, "My king, you don't have to die to save your daughters! Grab Ruby and jump out the window!" Jet joins the shouting, "If you die, I will only end up getting myself killed to avenge you!"

Amethar throws Ruby out the window, looks out at the city before them, and looks back and the Chancellor dying on the cathedral floor. Theo feels like time stops as he waits for his King to make a choice and hopes with all his heart he will choose to jump. He feels terrible leaving Lapin, he will never forgive himself for it and knows the King feels the same way, but they have to protect the children. Lapin would never forgive them if they forsook their chance to get away just to save him. Finally, his hope is answered, as Amethar jumps from the window, and Theo is able to catch his battle-worn king and absorb the damage. 

They stand outside of the church, about to run, and can all see the Pontifex approach Lapin's prone body as Sir Keradin raises his mace. They hear the Chancellor's last words, "The Bulb cares for no one", and then the mace is lowered and Lapin is dead.

There is no time to mourn, they have to move. Theo grabs everyone and says, "We need to go now, my King." The king, two princesses, ranger, and knight run into the streets of Comida, not knowing what lies before them, only knowing that they need to return to Candia as soon as possible and that their healer is dead. Theo can't stop thinking about that fly spell that Lapin cast. That spell allowed him to get Ruby and Liam to the second story in mere seconds. That spell saved their lives. He doesn't wipe the tears away but just lets them run down his face as he runs with his charges to what he hopes is safety.

**Author's Note:**

> All comments welcomed. Please let me know if you want this battle from any other character's POV. I'm open to doing more if people want them, so tell me what you want!


End file.
